Gold Fields (GFI) Stock Falls Alongside Gold Prices

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Gold Fields (GFI) were declining 6.76% to $5.17 on heavy trading volume late Tuesday afternoon as lower gold prices weighed on the South African gold miner.

Gold for December delivery was down 0.84% to $1,315.90 per ounce on the COMEX earlier today.

The precious metal is trading lower as the dollar strengthens on speculation that the Federal Reserve will soon hike interest rates.

"We believe there is over an 80% chance that the Fed will increase the interest rate one more time this year," Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst with ThinkMarkets, told MarketWatch. "If the U.S. [nonfarm payrolls] number shows a solid reading on Friday, we are expecting September to become more volatile and as of now, there is roughly a 35% chance that the Fed could increase the rate."

Dollar-denominated commodities such as gold become more expensive and less desirable to foreign buyers when the greenback is strong.

About 6.92 million shares of Gold Fields have been traded so far today vs. the stock's average trading volume of roughly 5.03 million shares a day.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates the stock as a "sell" with a ratings score of D+.

TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this article's author.

China's economy slowed to its weakest growth rate since 1990, official data confirmed Monday, as a damaging trade war with the United States, and efforts to curb domestic pollution and reckless lending, took a major bite out of the world's second largest economy.